178 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



too, besides Q. X Leana above mentioned, where Q. imbricaria 

 has been fertilized by Q. velutina, other hybrids of imbricaria are 

 known to exist or to have existed, viz. Q. imbricaria X marylandica, 

 Q. imbricaria X ftalustris (Q. X exacta), and Q. imbricaria X rubra. 

 There is too a quite recent case of a man-made hybrid oak ; accord- 

 ing to the Journal of Heredity, October 1918, Mr. H. Mess, horticul- 

 turist to the Texas State Experiment Station, has crossed Q. virginiana 

 with Q. lyrata, the latter supplying the pollen, and has been successful 

 in producing a vigorous and fast-growing progeny, which in the density 

 and lustre of its foliage is found to surpass either parent. The pro- 

 geny is stated to resemble in habit the pyramidal form of the father 

 rather than the broad, flat head and crooked limbs of the mother. 

 The Bureau of Plant Immigration in Washington has been good enough 

 to promise to try to obtain for me specimens of this hybrid, and of 

 its parents, but even should success crown this kindly attempt, I 

 much fear that Q. virginiana, at any rate, will prove too tender ever 

 to flourish at Aldenham (seep. 221). 



If I had to give a prize among hybrids, I think one produced 

 by insect's agency and not by man's, namely, Berberis X stenophylla 

 [Darwinii X empetri folia) would receive my award, but that, as 

 Mr. Kipling used to say, " is another story." 



In fine, there are many oaks beyond these which I have come 

 across that cannot be depended upon to keep themselves to them- 

 selves, and, being what in Biblical language would be called " an 

 adulterous generation," " go wrong " with strange species, and bring 

 discredit on their order and confusion on botanical investigators. 



Though I have never gone in for collecting hybrids as such, it 

 will be seen from the above that I have accumulated a considerable 

 number, and it may be that I have one or two more, for there are at 

 Aldenham a few oaks of which the identity has not been conclusively 

 determined, and I should not be surprised if they were ultimately 

 to be pronounced to be hybrids of dubious parentage. I ought not 

 to be drawn away from the subject of oaks, to which this article should 

 be rigidly confined, but I cannot help dropping an obiter dictum in 

 connexion with hybridization, which I have never seen expressed 

 elsewhere. It is this: Is it not strange that whereas apple and thorn 

 trees are not far separated botanically since both belong to the order 

 Rosaceae, yet hardly anyone can point to a hybrid Crataegus, unless 

 indeed C. Carrieri be one, whereas in the case of apples it is impossible 

 to raise any Pyrus from seed with any sort of confidence that the 

 seedling will be true to name ; consequently all kinds of mongrels 

 are put on the market and masquerade under specific names to which 

 at the best they are only half entitled. 



Q. Ilex (Linnaeus). — This oak is so well known and so often seen 

 in English gardens that there is no need for me to spend time in 

 describing it. The various specimens which I possess are in no way 

 remarkable for their size or anything else, the tallest being barely 

 30 ft. high. This species seems to thrive better than might have been 



